Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is the most common neoplasm occurring in patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (Beral, V. Cancer Surveys 10: 5-22 (1991)). The lesion is histologically complex, containing proliferating spindle-shaped cells thought to be of endothelial origin, as well as infiltrating mononuclear cells, plasma cells and abundant slit-like neovascular spaces. Although HIV infection is a major risk factor for KS development, epidemiologic studies suggest that it cannot be the sole determinant of KS risk, and that other cofactors, possibly sexually transmitted, play an important role in the etiology of the tumor (Beral, V. et al. (1990) Lancet 335:123-128). For example, HIV-positive male homosexuals are at least 20-fold more likely to develop KS than HIV-infected children or hemophiliacs. In addition, KS occurs in several clinical settings in the absence of HIV infection (Beral, V. (1991) Cancer Surveys 10:5-22). These and other observations have prompted a search for other viral agents that might be implicated in KS pathogenesis. Recently, DNA sequences of a novel member of the herpesvirus family, termed Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), have been regularly identified in KS tumors from both HIV-positive (Chang, Y. et al. Science (1994) 266: 1865-1869; Ambroziak, J. (1995) Science 268:582-583; Su, I. J. et al. (1995) Lancet 345:722-723) and HIV-negative (Moore, P. and Chang, Y. (1995) New Engl. J. Med. 332:1181-1185; Schalling, M. et. al. (1995) Nature Medicine 1:707-708; Boshoff, C. et. al. (1995) Lancet 345:1043-1044) patients. This agent has been proposed as a candidate for the presumed etiologic co-factor in KS (Chang, Y. et al. Science (1994) 266: 1865-1869; Whitby, D. (1995) Lancet 346:799-802). Methods for convenient detection and control of this etiologic co-factor are currently unavailable clinically.
The references discussed herein are provided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of the present application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admission that the inventors are not entitled to antedate such disclosure by virtue of prior invention.